If you've been following our iPad 2 case reviews, you are already familiar with the excellent cases from Pad and Quill including The Octavo and The Contega. These luxurious cases provide great protections for the iPad 2 with a Baltic Birch tablet holder and a reinforced cover in high quality Italian leather. These cases give the iPad 2 a unique style of an old book that's been well bound in leather. Now Pad and Quill has made another unique case for the iPad 2 that looks like a notebook with hardcover for college students. The case is so convincing that you might just be fooled into thinking it's a notebook sitting on the table instead of an iPad 2 in a case.

Design

Though not as luxurious as the Octavo or the Contega cases, The College Edition case for iPad 2 is equally well made. The case has the same durable Baltic Birch frame to house your iPad 2 and strong cover to protect the tablet?s screen. The Birch frame is incredibly rigid and can certainly protect your iPad 2 from any bumps inside of a bag or backpack; and it can absorb a good amount of shock should you drop your tablet. The wooden frame has smooth surface thanks to the lacquer treatment and is form fitting. As with other Pad & Quill cases, the College Edition for iPad 2 comes with rubber corners with which you can adjust the tightness of the holder.

The College Edition iPad 2 case has a solid construction with classic bookbindery cloth that comes in three color combos: Evening Blue/Slate Gray, Burgundy Wine/Harvest Wheat, and Forest Green/Khaki Tan. There color combos match the look of traditional hardcover notebooks and they go with the Birch frame very well also. The portfolio style case shuts naturally but it comes with an elastic band for extra security. As with the other two cases, the College Edition has a pull-tab that can help you take the iPad 2 out of the Birch frame more easily, and the pull-tab matches the color of your case.

Features

The College Edition for iPad 2 case has all the necessary cutouts in the Baltic Birch frame for you to operate the tablet while it?s in the case. The wooden frame has some thickness compared to slim cases, so the ports and buttons are sitting deeper inside of the case. That said, the buttons are easy to use and ports are also accessible, especially with the front cover open. The Birch case even has carved out channels for the top mic and the bottom speaker grill to let the sound through. You should have no trouble using the syncing/charging cable or the headset with your iPad 2 in the case.

The College Edition for iPad 2 case has a book like binding that allows you to fold back the front cover when you?re using the tablet, or use it as a stand though you will need something to back it up in order to prevent the cover from slipping. Unlike the Octavo case, the College Edition case doesn?t have a rear camera cutout nor a magnetic closure.

Conclusion

We?ve come to expect solid construction, perfect binding and high quality materials from Pad & Quill cases, and the College Edition for iPad 2 case doesn?t disappoint. The case is super protective thanks the wooden tablet frame and seriously reinforced book binding construction, yet it?s surprisingly slim and weighs only 10.8 oz. The case looks incredibly like a real notebook, hiding your iPad 2 in plain sight. It?s also cheaper than the other two cases in Pad & Quill?s collection, and offers the same inside document pocket option for extra $10.